this is how they're doing in an okay but somewhat troubled environment. now, let's think about this. suppose the fiscal cliff gets resolved quickly without wrecking the economy. i think washington is the only thing standing in the way of a worldwide surge in growth and profits. not just in stocks but also in real estate. if you take washington out of the equation -- my job would be so much fun. blackstone should zoom higher. first off, if the fiscal cliff does get resolved people will pull money out of bonds. they should pull them out of bonds any way because deal if small will be inflationary. they're more likely to invest in aggressive alternatives with higher assets under management. for those of that you don't know, the private equity where you buy companies using borrowed money and you fix them up and flip them a few years later by taking them public. over the past two years, blackstone brought eight private companies in its portfolio public and in the next 12 months, they plan on doing another eight. it goes without saying that if we're in a bull ma